Rum Review: Zafra Master Reserve 21 Year Rum

Is Ron Zacapa a fad? Is Zaya, Angostura 1919 or Pyrat XO? How bout Diplomatico? There's a modern marketing trend afoot and it's toward rum as liqueur. Sweet and easy to sell, er, drink. Here's to Richard Seale, may he never see this section!
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How do you rate Zaphra Master Reserve 21 Year (5 is best)?

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Total votes: 1

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Capn Jimbo
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Rum Review: Zafra Master Reserve 21 Year Rum

Post by Capn Jimbo »

Zafra Master Reserve 21 Year Rum: "Jalapeno Cinnamon Stick"

It is simply amazing how your expectations can be shaped by price, presentation, spin and buzz. Now mind you, I spent a couple lifetimes marketing shit, I mean concentrated growing aid, to America's consuming shitkickers and I really oughta be immune to marketing hype. And Sue Sea and I have reviewed enough rum to realize that price and presentation are not related to quality.

Some of the very best rums we have ever tasted are located on the lower shelves. I'm serious.

As so well expressed in the Rum Preview of Zaphra 21 (link), this offering is yet another of the highly, highly marketed "Z" rums brought in by the boyz at Dana Importers. Their marketing department is truly one of the best, fully capable of representing even an ordinary rum as a magnificent elixir and concentrated drinking aid. Don't believe me? Read it for yourself (here). But I digress.

When I finally obtained a bottle of the hard-to-find Zaphra for $35 (rather than its then more typical $50-60) I grabbed it, as we were chomping at the bit to post the first real independent review of this magical elixir, er new rum. Basta I say - shut up you babbling idiot! The reviews:

Sue Sea:
Unlike Jim, I'm take special joy in a rum's presentation. I really enjoy a well designed bottle and label, particularly if it well reflects the product. Zafra Master Reserve has spent a lot of time in the advertising art department, but not necessarily to its benefit. Does it look very expensive? Absolutely. It comes in a stylized, Ralph Lauren bottle with an aristocratic deep dark blue on vanilla, pseudo torn label. Very preppy, and a great example of I-can-afford-it class warfare products.

Too bad.

Although I usually leave it up to Jim to describe the color I have to say I was surprised to find that the Zaphra presented as an almost cloudy deep amber, not particularly clear. Not at all like the very attractive, almost crystalline brilliance and sparkle of say a Seales 10 Year or Mount Gay Extra Old.

In nosing Zafra Master Reserve my primary impression was of spicy leather, with a bit of cane, deep orange and a medium vanilla. Most surprising was a deep, sinus-clearing green wasabi effect! The early palate was unusual - not smooth like honey (as many rums present) but a very dry sweetness. This transitioned in the mid palate to a notable growing heat and spices including a strong cinnamon, clove and something akin to a dry, hot ginger.

The finish was a very hot jalapeno; the Zafra Master Reserve left an almost unpleasant, very dry hot pepper, persistent aftertaste. Compare to the aftertaste of a hot pepperoncini - dry and lasting and that demands a palate clearing drink of cool, clear water.

In closing, if you had told me this rum was from India, like the intriging Old Monk XXX with its unusual and atypical spices, I might have believed you, except that the Zaphra spicing seemed not at all authentic. Personally I don't care for this type of altered rum, which is reminiscent of the spiced rum category.

Considering its price, Zaphra Master Reserve 21 Year was very disappointing.
Me:

I must tell you that reviewing this rum was difficult if only because I wanted to be scrupulously fair with it, particularly after our rather average review of Dana's Zacapa "23". A decent rum, but certainly nowhere near its near mythical reputation. And more than couple good reviewers agreed with us. Still, great marketing is great marketing and does indeed affect all of our expectations.

Let's start with Zafra Master Reserve's presentation in the glass. A nice deep amber (what else would you expect with an alleged 21 year old rum), but suspiciously unclear. Additives? False economy? I would expect the distiller of such an expensive rum to take the time to properly filter the rum. When you pay close to $60 for a rum, it had better look terrific - brilliant and sparkling. Second was the absence of even a hint of a green edge (an indicator of age).

This wasn't right.

Zafra Master Reserve's aroma presented with a spicy cinnamon sweet leather. Call it a deep sweet. The cinnamon continued to dominate the early palate, followed by a growing astringent leathery heat and black pepper finish. The aftertaste was long, sticky, dry and almost sour. As Sue Sea put it "...a little rough, like sucking on one of those little 'Red Hot' candies". Quite an unusual finish. While sweet heat is a fine and wonderful, much prized sensation, here the dominence of dry heat - even with a bit of sweetness - is not.

A perfect rum for the needy but wealthy rum submissive, able to pay dearly to experience a good whipping by the Dominatrix Cinnamon: "Drink this now. You will like cinnamon. You will, you will, you worthless rum swilling twerp. Drink! And no water for you!".

Score (10 is best): 6 (barely).
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Capn Jimbo
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Zaphra Redux

Post by Capn Jimbo »

Zaphra Redux: Better than before?

We'll see.

Let's see what happened since our early first review. "Z-21" (patent pending) got the usual fawning attention by the Big Three (the Shillery, the Queen and the older Burr Brother). It hit the shelves at an amazing price: close to $60 while the importer/creators all had phenomenal woodies over what they'd hope would be another master deception like "Z-23". The profit margin was stunning, matched only by the best South Beach, uh, companions.

A girlfriend experience in a bottle.

But it was not to be, and far be it from me to say "I told you so". I told you so. Zaphra can now be found on the lower shelves in dwindling numbers; I've seen it for $29. True. But I digress. This post was to be a re-review of this magic, GFE elixir...

The following is a comingling of Sue Sea and moi's second impression:
Color: cloudy dark amber, close to mahogany. Scary slow thick legs, pearl necklace and, gulp, no green edge. Z-21 presented with a deep sweet, vanilla leather, with a hint of deep orange marmalade and a touch of tar. As before the early palate presents with a heavy, syrupy sweet marmalade. Smooth. And as before, the spicy heat explodes in the mid-palate - cinnamon, and especially ginger - with a sweet hot white pepper and even a touch of jalapeno and cacao coming forth in the late palate and what is really an unremarkable, but consistent finish.

The aftertaste is actually quite pleasant, consistent with the aroma, and leaving a sweet white pepper glow.
In sum, a true GFE rum, one where the marketed expectation does not live up to the reality, is over too soon and costs way too much.

Score (ten is best): bare 7. Pun intended.
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